Blind Date
by krashkart
Summary: Harper, meet your date for the evening, Evie. ... How Harper met Evie. A 'Detour' universe story.


**Blind Date**

The_ Andromeda Ascendant_ was docked at El Dorado Drift for routine maintenance, resupply, and a bit of a celebration. A pair of her junior enlisted were getting married, and Dylan and the rest of the male officers and CPOs had taken it upon themselves to take the prospective groom out for a prenuptial celebration. As a result, the female officers had officers' country to themselves. They were all in the officers' mess laughing, gossiping, and telling tales; Beka, Trance, and Rommie there physically, with Core and Logic attending virtually. Things were going famously until Harper staggered in.

Staggered was the proper word; he was so drunk he could barely stand erect, and reeked so badly of alcohol that even Logic's holographic image wrinkled her nose.

"Rommie, there is something I need to tell you," he slurred.

"You're drunk, Harper," replied Beka annoyed that the gathering had been interrupted. "It can wait until you sober up."

"No, it can't. If I wait till I'm sober I won't have the courage to say it."

"Oh all right, get it over with then," said Rommie tiredly, waiting for the expected proposition.

Harper took a deep breath trying to shake off some of the effects of the alcohol. "Rommie, I'm in love with you. I've been in love with you almost since the day I created you. We both know what I had in mind for you when I designed you, but by all the Gods of the universe I fell in love with you instead."

That was not what Rommie had been expecting to hear. Before she could formulate a reply her chief engineer went on.

"I'm not blind, Rom doll. I see how you look at the Captain, and I've seen him look at you the same way, when he thinks no one will notice, and I know that you'll never look at me the way you look at him. You're going have to make the first move with him, babe. Sometimes he worries too much about regulations instead of feelings."

He turned his attentions to Trance. He sounded even more depressed. "We might have had something at one time, Trance. When we first met. I know now, how you felt for me, but I was too wrapped up in Rommie to notice. You have Doctor Jackson now. He's a good man. Hold on tight to him, and don't make the same mistake I made with you. Always let him know that you love him"

He focused on Rommie again. "When you and the captain finally forget this military crap, and do what your hearts are telling you to do, I'll be there to dance with you at your wedding, and no one there who will be happier for you than me. I guess in the end that's what love is all about isn't it? Caring more for someone else's happiness than your own."

With that he turned and left the mess decks, leaving a quintet of speechless women behind him.

It was Beka who first broke the silence. "That boy needs to get laid real bad."

"He needs more than just a quick roll in the hay, Beka," said Andromeda. I just exercised my right as ships AI, to view crew members personal journals when I feel the health of a crew member, or my safety is an issue. He's desperately lonely, and, I'm afraid, borderline suicidal."

"What!" Rommie arose from her seat intending to check in on Harper, only to be stopped by Trance.

"I think we need to talk before we act," said the golden girl. "Andromeda, just why should Harper be lonely? We're all his friends."

"Friends yes," answered Core, "but despite his quirks, he's no different from anyone else. He needs someone to love him not just like him."

"But we do love him," protested Rommie, unwilling to admit that her friend was seriously considering ending his own life. "I wouldn't even exist if it weren't for him. I love him more deeply than any organic could possibly understand."

"But you're not in love with him, and that's the problem," said Core rather sadly. "We love him as a friend, creator, and as our annoying little brother, but we don't love him the way he wants to be loved. Quite simply he needs someone to love and care for, and who will love and care for him in return."

Beka summed it up. "So, what you're saying is that we need to find Harper a girlfriend."

Numerous names were brought up for discussion but all discarded as bad matches. Eventually Logic put out a name. "What about Evie?" There was some hesitation in her voice, as if she was not sure about her recommendation.

Rommie and Core both looked thoughtful.

"It could work," said Core.

"And she is here at the Drift," added Rommie.

"Do you think you can include the rest of us in on this conversation?" asked Beka. "Just who is Evie?"

"Evie is, or was, the avatar for the long range surveillance craft _The Ever Vigilant Eye_," answered Rommie. "They were detached for extended intergalactic exploration operations when they ran into some problems."

"What sort of problems?" asked Trance.

"Plague, a disease that attacked the victims nervous system. By the time they got back to the Commonwealth over 80 percent of her crew had died. Her sister/selves blamed themselves for not being able to save her crew and self wiped, committed suicide. Between the loss of her crew and the loss of her sister/selves, Evie was practically catatonic when the Eyemade it back."

"It's a wonder some of the high mucky mucks in the Triumvirate didn't order her erased," said Beka.

"They probably would have, but the Replicators showed, and she was forgotten about in the confusion. Then, after the mutiny, they couldn't order it. Fortunately for her there is a branch of the Shining Path to Truth and Knowledge Institute here on the Drift. Since they were the ones that originally laid down her engram, they were willing to step in and try to help her. She's living in a room at the Institute now."

"So instead of the blind leading the blind, we'll have the crippled leading the crippled." The minute she said it Beka wanted to bite her tongue out, but the words had already come out.

"That's totally unfair," cried out Trance.

"Evie is hurt, but she's not crippled in any way mentally, or physically," exclaimed Logic.

Rommie chimed in. "Considering what Harper went through growing up, it's no wonder he has trouble forming relationships with people. I think he's done remarkably well all things considering."

Beka started doing a mental inventory of what dresses and jewelry she owned. After the way she had just stuck her foot in her mouth, she was damned well going to make sure this matchmaking worked out.

A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A

"Harper, you are not going to meet Evie dressed like that."

Beka was blocking Harper from exiting the _Eureka Maru_. Harper had gone in to the _Maru_ to change into something 'more suitable for a date' and Beka had followed him to make sure his idea of suitable was suitable. Unfortunately, Harper's idea of suitable consisted of a pair of red slacks and a neon orange shirt with purple palm trees printed on it.

"What's wrong with the way I'm dressed?" he asked?

"Where's your suit. Harper?" asked Beka tiredly. Sometimes she felt that teaching a fish to sing would be easier than teaching Harper social skills. "I know you have one, you wore it when we met the Castillians."

Harper rummaged around in his footlocker. and finally came out with a ball of clothing. He shook it out to reveal what might charitably have been called a suit. Even the wrinkles had wrinkles and it smelled like it had been put away damp and left to mildew.

Beka gave a sigh of exasperation. It was time for the back up plan. She went to her personal stand up locker and removed a sport coat, shirt and a pair of slacks. The clothes had originally belonged to Bobby. and had been left behind when he had left the ship. Beka had kept them intending to use them for target practice. Trance had done yeoman work with scissors, and needle and thread, altering the clothes so that they would fit Harpers slight frame. Luckily Andromeda had had Harpers measurements. She handed him the clothes.

"Put these on," she ordered, turning her back to him to give him privacy, but still blocking the exit.

A few minutes late Harper was changed. He was now wearing a beige shirt and blue gray slacks and jacket. He was still wearing his spacer boots, but at least they were shined, and on the Drift they were the standard form of footwear. He actually looked presentable.

"One more thing," said Beka. "Give me your teleport control."

"Huh? What makes you think I have it on me?"

"I know you Harper. You can't resist a chance to impress a woman with how smart you are, and it generally backfires. I'm going to remove an opportunity for you to mess things up. Now hand it over."

Harper reluctantly handed the device over to Beka. She had been correct, he had intended to impress Evie with it.

"Ok, kid, lets go meet your date."

Harper was a bit nervous about this entire blind date business. Even more so since he had found out that he was going to be dating a ship's avatar. He had tried to back out of the entire thing, but Beka had threatened him with dismemberment if he did. It wasn't that he was prejudiced against avatars, quite the opposite actually, but they always seemed so perfect. The women were all so incredibly attractive, and so confident of their abilities. Not arrogant, but totally in command and sure of things. Just the opposite of the way he normally felt. Anyway, it was just one date, so he followed Beka, even if it was with all the enthusiasm of a condemned man walking to his own execution.

Beka led him to the ships reception area. Trance, Rommie and Logic were there already. They were standing in a line abreast hiding his date behind them.

"Harper, meet your date for the evening, Evie"

Trance and Rommie stepped aside and Harper got his first look at his date.

He first noticed that she was small. She was the shortest avatar he could remember meeting. Even in the heels she was wearing, she barely came up to his shoulder. She was dark haired, her hair such a dark black that it was almost blue. A pair of brilliant blue eyes were framed in an oval shaped face. She was fair skinned, actually fairer than he was. He recognized the dress she was wearing. It was Beka's favorite black dress, a figure hugging knee length number, cut so that the wearers left shoulder was bare. Trance must have done some alterations to the dress, Beka was larger than Evie, but the dress fit the avatar perfectly, revealing a curvy, but not ridiculously so figure. The dress didn't show any cleavage, but from the way she filled it out Harper thought that her breasts would be just about perfect, not too small, or too big. She was wearing one of Beka's necklaces as well, the one her father had given her on her 18th birthday.

"Evie, meet Harper, Andromeda's chief engineer. Harper, this is Evie, until recently the Ever Vigilant Eye's avatar.

"Well don't just stand there," whispered Beka when Harper just stood in place. "Go up there, and take her hand"

Evie smiled as he walked up to her. There was a slight gap between her two front teeth. It was just enough to change her from inhumanly perfect to humanly beautiful. As he got closer he noticed two more things about her, her perfume and her hair ornament. The scent she was wearing was Trance's favorite fragrance. The hair ornament was a silver butterfly with sapphires for eyes. The color of the sapphires exactly matched the color of her eyes. The butterfly belonged to Rommie. He had given it to her last Christmas.

He took her hand. "Pleased to meet you, Evie"

"I'm pleased to meet you too, Harper."

He couldn't believe it, she sounded as nervous as he felt.

"Ahem" It was Beka. She was holding something in her hands. "You forgot these."

"Excuse me, Evie," said Harper as he walked back to Beka. The objects in her hand were tickets of some sort.

"These are for the show playing at the Globe Theater. You also have 2100 reservations at the Planetary restaurant. And, Harper, one more thing."

"Let me guess, if I hurt her you're going to kill me."

"That wasn't what I was going to say, but yes, now that you mention it, I will. What I was going to say, is that you're getting a second chance. Don't blow it. Now get out of here, your cab is waiting."

It seemed that Evie was not used to wearing high-heeled shoes. She was a little wobbly and leaned on Harpers arm for support. It felt good.

The taxi dropped them off at the Globe. Evidently they were going to watch a musical. They had box seats; Beka had gone all out. Harper wasn't a fan of musicals but the music was lively enough to keep him entertained, and Evie seemed to be enjoying the romantic parts of the show. About half way through the show he put his arm around her shoulder. At first there was no response, and he was about to remove it when she reached up with both hands to capture his hand, imprisoning his arm around her. The story took an unexpected turn at the end, and the central character died. Evie started to get teary eyed, and Harper had to use his handkerchief to try the tears. There had been a similar scene in the show with the hero trying the tears of the heroine; Harper had a suspicion that he had just been set up, but oddly he didn't mind.

"It was a nice show Harper. Thank you for taking me."

"It was the company that made it nice," _Oh no, did that sound as arrogant to her as it did to him_? "I mean it was your company that made it nice for me."

"I knew what you meant. What do you want to do now?"

There was the restaurant but he didn't know if she had been modified to eat. Somehow he didn't think that she would really enjoy sitting at a table doing nothing while he fed his face.

"Well I was thinking of getting a bite to eat but I don't know if you are capable of consuming organic materials." _Damn it. Why didn't he simply ask if she wanted anything to eat?_

"I am fully capable of consuming and utilizing for energy most forms of organic material," answered Evie. She had intended it to be a tease, but from the look on Harper's face it had fallen flat. She took another approach. "I eat the same things you do Harper. Did you have any place in mind?"

The Planetary turned out to specialize in Perseid cuisine.

"Oh I love Perseid food!" exclaimed Eve. "My last commanding officer enjoyed Perseid cooking and took us to dinner at several Perseid places."

That wasn't what Harper wanted to hear. He found it hard enough to compete with living men. Competing with a memory was a losing proposition. Jill of the Pax Magellenica came to mind. He tensed up slightly hoping Evie wouldn't notice his reaction.

Evie was perceptive enough to see Harper stiffen up and deduce the reasoning behind it. "It was nothing romantic, Harper. By us, I meant the officers' mess."

"The next problem was a tie. Harper wasn't wearing one, and the maître'd wouldn't allow him in without one. More than a little embarrassed, Harper was forced to ask if the restaurant had one that he could purchase. They did, and he did.

Harper stood with the tie in his hands. _Now what? He didn't know how to tie one._ He was about ready to suggest they go somewhere else when Evie came to his rescue. Rommie had warned her about Harper's sartorial skills.

"Here, Harper, let me help you. You'll never get it looking straight without a mirror." A moment later Harper was wearing a perfectly tied tie.

Their table was in the back of the restaurant. The lighting was almost non-existent except for the candles on the tables. The jewel around Evie's throat and the silver butterfly in her hair reflected the flickering candlelight. Somewhat to his surprise Harper helped Evie with her chair.

The hostess brought menus. The names of the dishes were written in Common but were phonetically Perseid. Fortunately for Harper, under the name of the dish was a description of the meal. After looking at the menu for a moment, Evie made her choice, speaking in what to Harper seemed flawless Perseid. Not to be outdone, Harper attempted to pronounce the name of the dish he wanted. The hostess gave him an odd look and Evie gave a little giggle.

"It's a good thing you showed her the menu item you wanted, Harper."

"Why is that?"

"Well, because the way you pronounced it, you just ordered a broiled torque wrench."

Everything went smoothly until the after dinner coffee. Harper had been telling humorous tales of his life on the _Maru_ and the _Andromeda_ and Evie and been laughing appropriately and asking questions. Then she asked the one question he had prayed she wouldn't ask.

"Tell me about your early live, Harper. Trance told me that you were raised on Earth."

"You really don't want to know about it."

"But I do."

"Trust me, you don't."

"Harper, there is nothing you can tell me that will shock me. I was a ship's avatar. remember."

Her wheedling annoyed him. so he told it all to her. not holding back a thing. He told her about the refuge camps, about Uber slave raids and Magog attacks. He told her about the rape gangs. and what it was like to be a slave; about beatings and watching members of his family die one by one He told her about his last visit to Earth, how he had helped start an uprising against the Neitzscheans, an uprising, which was eventually crushed.

When he was done she confounded him with her next question.

"Why do you feel so sorry for yourself?"

"Weren't you listening to anything I said?" he asked utterly dumbfounded.

"I was listening to every word you said, Harper, and half of it was self pity. You had a bad, very bad childhood, but you're no longer on Earth. You've done great things, and are on the brink of doing greater things, but you're still focused on the wrongs done to you. I can accept anger, but not self-pity. Do you think that you're the only one who has ever suffered a loss?"

"What do you mean"

"Why do you think I was decommissioned?"

" I had assumed excessive battle damage. I know that in extreme cases a ship will be decommissioned until it is repaired then recommissioned."

'You assumed wrong. I listened to your tale without interruption, now you are going to listen to mine." Evie might no longer be able to legally give orders, but she hadn't forgotten how to give them.

"I, we were on a long range intergalactic exploration operation. We were so far out that the galaxy we were in didn't even have a number, let alone a name; so far out that it had taken us over a month to get there. We'd found several promising planets, and were in the process of exploring them. We thought we had taken all protections against biological contamination. We were wrong."

"We never did discover what it was. It wasn't a virus, or a bacteria, it was something totally different from anything we had encountered before. But, whatever it was, it spread like wildfire through my crew. Three days after the initial case 60 percent of my crew was stricken. It attacked the central nervous system, any and all sensory inputs were interrupted by the victim's brain as pain, agonizing pain. Pain so severe that eventually the victim died of it. Nothing we tried would work, antivirals, antibiotics, nothing could control it. The only thing that would relieve the pain was total sensory deprivation. You know what happens to a person after a few hours of sensory deprivation, don't you?"

"Madness, followed by a complete breakdown of the central nervous system leading to death."

"Exactly." She seemed to change mental gears for a moment. "Harper, do you understand how an AI ship feels towards it's crew?"

"Well.."

"We love you. It's not quite the love a parent feels for a child, but that is the closest parallel Common has. In many ways our crews are our children."

"My children were dying, Harper, screaming in agony, and begging for me to help them, and there was nothing I could do. I couldn't cure them; I couldn't even hold their hand as they suffered, because it would only hurt them more. In the end there was only one thing I could do for them. Do you know what I did; what I had to do because I loved them?"

Harper had a sickening suspicion he knew. He knew what he would have done is her situation.

"Eva and Eve my sister/selves and I isolated the non infected crewmen to their quarters, then filled the rest of the ship with nitrogen gas. It's a peaceful death, Harper, the victim doesn't gasp for breath, they just pass out, and never wake up. When we were done my sister/selves were completely distraught. They couldn't live with what they had done, so they wiped themselves."

"Most people see the AI and the avatar as separate individuals. We're not, not really, no more than the head of a coin is separate from the reverse. That's not really accurate, but I don't have a better analogy. I felt them die, felt them fade into nonexistence. They had even destroyed their backups, there was no way I could bring them back."

She was crying openly.

"Harper, I went out on a trip with my family and came back with a ship full of corpses. My children dead by my own hand, and my sisters suicides. I wasn't even allowed to give them proper last rites. The Triumvirate was interested in whatever it was that struck down my crew. They thought it held potential as a biological weapon, so they took them, took my crew, and dissected their bodies."

"I'll never be a ship again, Harper. I know that. I would never be able to take a crew into danger. I would turn and run, try to protect them."

Another pause

"A ship has senses that an organic being doesn't have, Harper. As the EyeI could see gamma rays and hear gravity. The universe to a ship is filled with colors and sounds that you can't even imagine. To a ship the solar wind is as real as the wind from the fan above our head."

"Compared to what I was. I am a cripple, deaf, blind, and I will never know the love of a crew again."

Very quietly she added "I want to go home now."

Silently Harper waved for the hostess and paid the tab.

Harper decided they should walk back to the Institute. He needed the time to think. He noticed that Evie no longer needed his support when walking in heels.

They were passing though a seedier part of town when he noticed a bar. He had the sudden urge for a drink, several of them.

"Lets stop in there for a bit," he suggested.

"Harper, if you think you are going to get me drunk, forget it. It won't work," she was no longer crying but sounded tired, terribly tired.

"I'm the one who needs to get drunk, Evie. I'm going to get a start here and finish the job when I get back to the Andromeda.

Evie was silent, docilely following him into the bar.

Harper knew it was a mistake the moment they entered. During the Replicator scare many places had installed metal detectors to detect the hostile AIs that were supposed to be infiltrating the Commonwealth. There had never been any hostile AIs, but the detectors remained, usually in places were AIs had been unwelcome prior to the arrival of the Replicators. As they walked through the entrance Evie triggered the detector.

"Harper, I think we had better leave."

Harper held out his left hand, thumb and forefinger separated by a fraction on an inch. "Evie, the Commonwealth came this close to a civil war to give you, and all the other AIs, some basic rights. We didn't get everything, but you have the right to enter any public building, and we're going to exercise those rights right now."

Every instinct he had was warning him to leave, but he had his back up, and wasn't going to leave until he had his drink.

They sat down at a table and Harper ordered his drink. He had just started sipping it when he heard footsteps approaching. Looking up he saw three men approaching. He knew the type, as a boy growing up on Earth he had either labored for, or ran from the likes of them. Now he worked for the Commonwealth, and at the moment didn't feel like running.

"What's wrong, bud? Can't get a real woman?"

Evie tried to defuse the situation. "He just came in for a drink. We'll leave as soon as he's finished." It didn't work of course.

The second man decided to get involved. "Well, look at you, aren't you a looker. Earning your emancipation fee with a little extracurricular activity are we?"

Harper felt an unexpected, murderous sense of rage building up inside him. He was going to hate himself in the morning, provided he survived the next few minutes, but he wasn't going to let anybody imply Evie was a prostitute. Someone was going to pay dearly for those remarks. He threw his drink in the face of the largest of the three men. Then, as he stood up, he smashed the glass into the face of the partially blinded man. He felt the glass break, and twisted the edges into his targets face.

A boy growing up in the refuge camps of Earth learns how to fight or he dies. Harper may not have thrived on Earth, but he did survive. For his size and weight he was an extremely vicious fighter. A minute later his victim was lying on the floor moaning in pain.

Unfortunately for Harper, the time it took for him to dispose of the first thug had given the other two the opportunity to recover from their surprise. They were equally as vicious as Harper, were taller, heavier, and stronger, and there were two of them. A painful minute later the lights went out for Harper.

"Come on Harper wake up. We need to get out of here."

Someone was talking to him and there was a stinging sensation on his cheek

"Huh? Whazzit?"mumbled Harper. It was Evie. She was supporting his head and slapping him gently on the cheeks. As his eyes began to focus he noticed three men lying on the floor, and the rest of the bar patrons looking on.

"Huh? Did we win?"

"The other patrons jumped in after you were knocked unconscious,"said Evie. A lie, she had done it herself, but his body was already bruised, she didn't see any reason to bruise his ego as well. "We need to get out of here before any of their friends decide to show up."

Harper got to his feet and she helped him out the door. Harper figured he must have done something right in a past life, because there was a taxi waiting outside. After a quick stop at a convenience store to get some first aid supplies, they arrived at the Shining Path to Truth and Knowledge Institute, and went to Evie's dormitory room.

The room could have belonged to a Wayist monk. The four walls were unadorned, and a single light bulb hung from the ceiling. There was a bed, made up with military precision, a desk and chair, a shelf lined with flimsies, a sink, and a small chest of drawers. The single window was shuttered closed. Harper took a look at the flimsies on the shelf. The seemed to fall into two categories, medical texts and romance novels, of the type Beka called 'bodice rippers'. Evie saw him looking at the books and gave an embarrassed smile.

"Beka has similar tastes in reading," he said.

"You must mean the medical books. Is she studying medicine as well?"

She pushed him onto the bed.

"Sit down I need to take a look at you." She helped him take of his jacket and remove his shirt. He winced a bit as the movement sent pain through his chest. She ran her fingers over his chest stopping when he grunted in pain.

"You have some broken ribs but this should hold you until you get back to Andromeda. I think your nose is broken too." She began to wrap his chest with the surgical bandage she had purchased.

"Evie, I'm sorry. I really screwed up back there didn't I. You were right we should have left."

"It's all right, Harper."

"No, it isn't all right. If the other patrons hadn't jumped in I would be dead now, and you would be wishing you were."

"Harper, listen to me. There was nothing you could have done to prevent that fight. All you did was try to set the fight on your terms. Quite successfully too. I had no idea you were such a tiger." The last was pure ego stroking, but he looked like he could use it.

She helped him put his shirt back on and get back to his feet. He wasn't sure if he should be disappointed or relieved. It would have been nice if she tried to remove the rest of his clothes, but the way he was feeling he wouldn't have been able to take advantage of the situation. They stood there face to face for a moment not saying a word, then he bent down to kiss her; she tilted her face up to meet him. She smelled good and felt better. His kiss became hungrier; she started to respond then stopped, and pushed him gently but firmly away.

"I think you had better go back to the ship now."

"Yeah, right," his voice had a beaten tone to it. He started to turn towards the door.

"Harper, wait."

He stopped and turned back to face her.

"Rommie told me that I would see at once that you were a really nice guy but.."

He braced himself for those dreadful words 'you're a nice guy but I don't want to see you again'

'that it would take a couple of dates before I saw how truly special you are. I'd like to find out if she was right. Will you come see me again tomorrow? I'd really like that." There was a pleading tone to her voice.

"I'd like that too, Evie. Only tomorrow you pick the places OK?"

When Harper got back to the ship he received the expected third degree from the women. They were surprised at his condition, but mollified by the fact that he was going to see Evie again the next day. As Beka put it "Only Harper could go out on a date, return with broken bones, and tell everyone what a great time he had.'

Harper kept his promise. He saw Evie the next day, and the day after that, and every day until the _Andromeda_ left the Drift.

When_A_ndromeda left the drift she had, in addition to taking on supplies, taken on some new crew members. One of those crew members was assigned to the medical department. She was Senior Spacer Eva Vigilance, better known to her friends as Evie.


End file.
